Prototype brings a dark “hero” to a destructible world

Activision and Radical present Prototype, a revenge fantasy where you can kill …

I had to admit that I wasn't very impressed with Prototype when the demo began. The Activision title was being shown at THX's booth to show off the software-driven 7.1 sound that the company is putting into the 360 version, and I was sitting with two other gaming writers as a very excitable Kelly Zmak, Radical's CEO, took us through the game's features.

The game follows Alex Mercer, who wakes up with super powers, no memory, and one mission: to find out who turned him into whatever he is. The game takes place in a stylized version of New York City, and Alex can glide for long distances, run up the sides of buildings, and in general go wherever he wants. He can also very efficiently destroy anything in his path.

As you "consume" enemies you can take over their identities, and also their abilities. By killing a helicopter pilot with the consume move you can then pilot helicopters. Consume a commander and you can call down air strikes. While you look like an enemy soldier, you can also point to another soldier and claim that he's you, and the enemies will shoot him while he protests. Good times.

"This is a power fantasy, and a story of revenge," Zmak told us, and he also explained that he's hoping the game will be the first part of a longer story. He also promised that the game will come to a satisfying conclusion, while leaving the door open for sequels, or even prequels.

The more I saw of the game, with the helicopter combat that looked like a current-generation Desert Strike, and the crazy destruction that followed when Alex climbed into a tank, the more I began to think this could be something special. The story actually sounded interesting, with Alex having the ability to view the memories of the enemies you consume to move the story forward. These memories will give you hints about your next target in the open world. It may feel like a mixture of Crackdown and Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, but Radical did develop the under-loved Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, which featured a destructive superhero in an open-world environment last generation. These guys know how to blow stuff up.

The game is wonderfully violent and brazenly nihilistic. Alex Mercer makes for a fine anti-hero. Prototype is coming to the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

As a side note, THX created the software that allows the game to feature 7.1 sound on the Xbox 360, but the PS3, a system that already supports 7.1? It will run in 5.1 That makes so much sense.